How many would it take to grow 6 or so plants, and about how many watts per bulb? Thanks for any answers.

slowmo77

09-17-2008, 11:19 PM

depends on the area your gonna use. how tall you want your plants to be at harvest? cfls work well with small grows under 3 feet.

i flower 6 at a time in a 2x2x4 box under 16 42 watt cfls and i get good results. but for the money i spent on cfls i could have bought a HPS, but i added lights as i could so themoney was spread out over time. so it made sense at the time.. sorry im stoned. good luck

thc is good for me

09-18-2008, 05:03 AM

Yea it takes alot of cfls to grow MJ. Its all about the lumens to grow 6 plants your gonna need at least 50,000 lumens and most cfls are only 1500 lumens but you can get a 55,000 luman HPS for $100 on ebay or insidesun.com.

The Hemp Goddess

09-18-2008, 01:23 PM

How many would it take to grow 6 or so plants, and about how many watts per bulb? Thanks for any answers.

When you are trying to figure out how much light you need, you have to tell us how many square feet you are going to have. Lighting has nothing to do with the number of plants you are growing and everything to do with lumens per sq ft. So, without knowing how big your space it, we can tell you that you need at least 3000 lumens per sq ft for vegging and 5000 lumens per sq ft for flowering.

I would encourage you to check out some lower wattage HPS.

Killertea08

09-18-2008, 02:38 PM

You can choose to still grow your plants under CFL's but only in the vegetative cycle. There not really worth it in the flowering cycle. The only way there good for flowering is if you completely surround a plant with 42w CFL's on the sides as well as on top, using lots of "y"s. Grow with HPS buddy if you want 6 plants then use a 400w HPS lamp thats aircooled

gettinggray1964

09-18-2008, 02:55 PM

They Dont All Have To Be 42 Watts, You Want A Good Mix Of Colors, Daylight, Cool White, Soft White, The First 2 Grows That I Have Done Was With Cfls, The Pic I Got In The Bpoym Contest Was Grown Under Cfls, It Was Over 7 Foot Tall In A 6 Foot Tent, I Had 2 Sativas And One Bag Seed Plant That Was 24 Inches Tall At Harvest.... All Under Cfls In The Same Grow............................ I Used 4 42 Watters And 30 Something 26 Watters.... TheY Work And Work Well...

Killertea08

09-18-2008, 03:02 PM

Thats alot of CFLS brother! I just dont see myself using that many lights. I had my experiment with cfls and I didnt like what I got. Sure it smoked decent but what looked like a oz was more like 7grams haha.

slowmo77

09-18-2008, 04:48 PM

since you can buy 150 HPS for 20$ ready to go it doesn't make sense to use cfls anymore..

yuo can use cfls with good results, like THG said let us know how big your grow area is and we can help you figure out how many lights you need.. good luck

hetfield_08

09-18-2008, 11:02 PM

since you can buy 150 HPS for 20$ ready to go it doesn't make sense to use cfls anymore..

yuo can use cfls with good results, like THG said let us know how big your grow area is and we can help you figure out how many lights you need.. good luck
did you really mean 20 bucks or 200??

hetfield_08

09-18-2008, 11:04 PM

When you are trying to figure out how much light you need, you have to tell us how many square feet you are going to have. Lighting has nothing to do with the number of plants you are growing and everything to do with lumens per sq ft. So, without knowing how big your space it, we can tell you that you need at least 3000 lumens per sq ft for vegging and 5000 lumens per sq ft for flowering.

I would encourage you to check out some lower wattage HPS.
well i don't have much room, maybe a 7x7x7 area right now

slowmo77

09-18-2008, 11:15 PM

ya its twenty U.S. dollars. $20.00 plus shipping.

with a 7x7x7 grow area no way i'd use cfls. HPS/MH is the only way for you to go. imo anything less than 1000 watts wouldn't be enough

The Hemp Goddess

09-18-2008, 11:17 PM

well i don't have much room, maybe a 7x7x7 area right now

LOL--7 x 7 x 7 is quite a large space. This is not a space that you are going to want to try and light with CFLs. For a space this size, you are going to need something like 4 1000W HPS.

I just finished manicuring my 2 indoor plants grown under CFL's. I'm not weighing anything, but you can get some idea of the yield from the pix. Much leaf trim not pictured will become hash. I used a 125 watt/9500 lumen CFL ($70, not including ballast) with a bunch of 42/23 watt bulbs added for extra light. I think I ended up with around 20,000 lumens in a 3.5ft x 1.5ft x 5ft high space. Could have bought other lighting systems for sure but I wanted to do CFL's. Anyway, that's my 2 cents. The smoke is good:D

Growdude

09-19-2008, 01:54 AM

They Dont All Have To Be 42 Watts, You Want A Good Mix Of Colors, Daylight, Cool White, Soft White, The First 2 Grows That I Have Done Was With Cfls, The Pic I Got In The Bpoym Contest Was Grown Under Cfls, It Was Over 7 Foot Tall In A 6 Foot Tent, I Had 2 Sativas And One Bag Seed Plant That Was 24 Inches Tall At Harvest.... All Under Cfls In The Same Grow............................ I Used 4 42 Watters And 30 Something 26 Watters.... TheY Work And Work Well...

Thats almost 1000 watts in CFL's you would be much better off with a 1000 watt HPS.

TommyBres

09-19-2008, 02:09 AM

Thats almost 1000 watts in CFL's you would be much better off with a 1000 watt HPS.
Hahaha did he really just say 34 bulbs??? That's insane, and I'd agree with you. The 1000 watt HPS would probably have better light output than all 34 bulbs combined.

TommyBres

09-19-2008, 03:04 AM

Well, I went out and grabbed some info to support my opinion, without facts we have no debate.

45 watt GE CFL claims 2900 lumens, and it's at the higher end of all 45W CFL's I looked at.

An average, run of the mill 600W HPS bulb puts out 90,000-100,000 lumens of light.

So yes, you'd need at least 31 bulbs to have the same light output.

31 x 45 = 1,395 Watts

31 bulbs, at $13.95 apiece cost you $432.45 for supplies. Most likely bought over a period of time, but that's what the bulbs total. So here's the deal:

Pay $300 (roughly) up front, get 90000-100000 lumens of light, and pay for 600W of electricity during use... OR... Pay $432.45 over time, get 90,000 lumens of light, and pay for 1,395 watts of electricity. It seems simple to me.

Edit: ALSO, there's only 1 bulb to replace in the HPS system, and you can get a pack of 8 600W HPS bulbs that give off 90,000 lumens of light for 55 Australian dollars ($44 USD). That's $5.50 a bulb. They will burn out more often than the CFL's, but with the low cost of replacement and the fact that it uses less than half of the electricity, isn't it worth it?

Growdude

09-19-2008, 09:18 AM

:yeahthat: Also all the sockets and Y adapters for 31 bulbs is going to run atleast another $50.00.

POTUS

09-19-2008, 09:57 AM

Well, I went out and grabbed some info to support my opinion, without facts we have no debate.

45 watt GE CFL claims 2900 lumens, and it's at the higher end of all 45W CFL's I looked at.

An average, run of the mill 600W HPS bulb puts out 90,000-100,000 lumens of light.

So yes, you'd need at least 31 bulbs to have the same light output.

31 x 45 = 1,395 Watts

31 bulbs, at $13.95 apiece cost you $432.45 for supplies. Most likely bought over a period of time, but that's what the bulbs total. So here's the deal:

Pay $300 (roughly) up front, get 90000-100000 lumens of light, and pay for 600W of electricity during use... OR... Pay $432.45 over time, get 90,000 lumens of light, and pay for 1,395 watts of electricity. It seems simple to me.

Edit: ALSO, there's only 1 bulb to replace in the HPS system, and you can get a pack of 8 600W HPS bulbs that give off 90,000 lumens of light for 55 Australian dollars ($44 USD). That's $5.50 a bulb. They will burn out more often than the CFL's, but with the low cost of replacement and the fact that it uses less than half of the electricity, isn't it worth it?The extra wattage is almost ALL given off as HEAT.

If your grow room is in an igloo and used to heat it, then go with CFL's.

It's been proven more than enough times that for an entire grow, HPS is the most efficient type of light you can use. As I've said many times, my little 3.5 x 5.5 foot area gives me a pound of cured weed on each crop using dual 400 watt HPS.

How many times do we need to cover this same stupid argument?

Hey, if someone likes CFL's and want to use them, fine! Just don't try to convince ANYONE who has their brain on that CFL's are more efficient than other forms of lighting. They aren't. Period. End of freakin argument.

Tommy has just shown it again.

Thank you.

TommyBres

09-19-2008, 11:12 AM

Uh oh, gettin a little hot in here... I'm gonna step out this way, and avoid controversy... Haha I knew CFL's weren't as good, before I came into this forum I didn't think anyone would bother with an entire grow process using CFL's... Yet, from what I've seen, it seems to be a good 25% of growers on here using nothing but fluorescent. WE MUST EDUCATE THE MASSES!!!

For the record, I will use fluorescent for cloning, simply because I want a constant harvest system where I need 3 separate rooms, all with lighting... And I'm not about to spend another $300 on an HPS light for vegetation. Fluorescent in clone room, MH in the mother room, HPS in the flower room. :P

gettinggray1964

09-19-2008, 11:19 AM

Thats alot of CFLS brother! I just dont see myself using that many lights. I had my experiment with cfls and I didnt like what I got. Sure it smoked decent but what looked like a oz was more like 7grams haha. thats why i got 400 watt hps and cfls.......

time4tokin20s

09-19-2008, 12:02 PM

The extra wattage is almost ALL given off as HEAT.

If your grow room is in an igloo and used to heat it, then go with CFL's.

It's been proven more than enough times that for an entire grow, HPS is the most efficient type of light you can use. As I've said many times, my little 3.5 x 5.5 foot area gives me a pound of cured weed on each crop using dual 400 watt HPS.

How many times do we need to cover this same stupid argument?

Hey, if someone likes CFL's and want to use them, fine! Just don't try to convince ANYONE who has their brain on that CFL's are more efficient than other forms of lighting. They aren't. Period. End of freakin argument.

Tommy has just shown it again.

Thank you.

No one in this entire thread had said cfl's are more efficient.Some people have to use cfl set-ups for various reasons and they happen to work great for their needs.I have seen some monsters grown and flowered with fluorescents.CFL users don't let these HPS guys get you down!

pussum

09-19-2008, 12:54 PM

I always recommend CFL's for people who are just starting out. Why? Because they are a heck of a lot more forgiving to mistakes than if you were to use a heavy duty growing light. Get your technique straight while using CFL's and then upgrade to something more powerful. If you are just starting out and you roast your entire garden with a powerful light you are more likely to give up and not grow again. If you are using CFL's and only singe the tips of your plants where they touched the light you can easily recover.

Waspfire

09-19-2008, 01:42 PM

since you can buy 150 HPS for 20$ ready to go it doesn't make sense to use cfls anymore..

yuo can use cfls with good results, like THG said let us know how big your grow area is and we can help you figure out how many lights you need.. good luck

umm i would love to know where i can get one of these hps for 20$, can u tell me where to find this at plz?

cuy103

09-19-2008, 01:57 PM

There a lot of online places you can go to buy a $20 HPS lamp.

For example, elights.com (http://www.elights.com/hpslamps.html) has everything from 35 watts up to 400watts all for $20. :D

Tom O'Bedlam

09-19-2008, 03:11 PM

I always recommend CFL's for people who are just starting out. Why? Because they are a heck of a lot more forgiving to mistakes than if you were to use a heavy duty growing light. Get your technique straight while using CFL's and then upgrade to something more powerful. If you are just starting out and you roast your entire garden with a powerful light you are more likely to give up and not grow again. If you are using CFL's and only singe the tips of your plants where they touched the light you can easily recover.

tell me about it....I had so many bulbs crammed into a small space that I had singed leaves all over the place. If I had a bigger grow space I'd buy something else.

gettinggray1964

09-19-2008, 03:54 PM

hey tom how did your bud turn out, smokeing wise i mean......

The Hemp Goddess

09-19-2008, 04:51 PM

umm i would love to know where i can get one of these hps for 20$, can u tell me where to find this at plz?

hxxp://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EFamily.asp

Funkfarmer

09-19-2008, 05:03 PM

there is also a thread in the lights section here about the 20 hps

ALLDAY420

09-19-2008, 05:18 PM

you guys never mentioned how much more energy it takes to run a 1000w hps and how much more that costs in energy bills every month over using CFL's. I guess it would be the same in the case of the guy using like 30 something cfl's to equal up to 1000w, but if you're only growing a couple plants in a small area then cfl is def the way to go, less heat, cheaper energy.

gettinggray1964

09-19-2008, 05:29 PM

hey but he said he wanted to grow 6 plants, got to tell you, i got 5 plants going right now, 400 watt hps and 15 26 watt cfls,IMO I STILL NEED MORE LIGHT..... dont have a heat issiue either, growing in a 4footx4footx6.5foottent, 2 four inch fans running 24-7 at canopy level, one small tower fan running when lights on blowing on my pots.. temps never get above 80 degrees. had same fan setup when i was just useing all cfls... never a temp problem

ALLDAY420

09-19-2008, 05:37 PM

hey but he said he wanted to grow 6 plants, got to tell you, i got 5 plants going right now, 400 watt hps and 15 26 watt cfls,IMO I STILL NEED MORE LIGHT..... dont have a heat issiue either, growing in a 4footx4footx6.5foottent, 2 four inch fans running 24-7 at canopy level, one small tower fan running when lights on blowing on my pots.. temps never get above 80 degrees. had same fan setup when i was just useing all cfls... never a temp problem

yeah, exactly you'll never have temperature issues with cfl's unless of course the plant touches the bulb. they are easily accessible for purchase at home depot, cheaper to run. My buddy and I only have 1 girl going right now with 8 cfl's. almost ready for harvest, it's still expensive on the energy bill either way though.

gettinggray1964

09-19-2008, 05:44 PM

if you want to dance you got to pay the band......... i dont know for sure but i think my last electric bill had about 40 dollar increase, that is still cheaper than buying street weed....

Grower_Dude

09-19-2008, 05:55 PM

A quick note about some of the new compact fluorescent bulbs. I have two rooms: one for vegetative growth, and a second for flowering. I don't have the funds for what I would like in each room, so I have a 1000 watt HPS in my flowering room and use compacts for cloning and vegetative growth.

There are new 65 watt (300 watt incandescent equivalent) curly bulbs that fit in a standard socket and produce approximately 4500 lumens. I find that using four of these easily illuminates a 4'x3' space. Total cost: 4 standard sockets and cords (pre-assembed): $24; 4 300 watt bulbs: $48.

My Sun Systems HPS was much more expensive: approximately $600.

I wouldn't try to flower under my fluorescent bulbs, but they are great for starting the process.

GD

The Hemp Goddess

09-19-2008, 09:23 PM

yeah, exactly you'll never have temperature issues with cfl's unless of course the plant touches the bulb. they are easily accessible for purchase at home depot, cheaper to run. My buddy and I only have 1 girl going right now with 8 cfl's. almost ready for harvest, it's still expensive on the energy bill either way though.

You get enough CFLs together and you can have a heat problem. And CFLs are not really cheaper to run. A kilowatt hour is a kilowatt hour regardless of whether you are running CFLs or a HPS. The 150W HPS are not hard to cool. I have a dual 150W HPS cooltube (so 300W) and the closet is staying under 80 with a passive intake and a computer fan pulling the hot air from the light.

The $20 150W HPS makes HPS possible for virtually everyone--and they are actually cheaper than CFLs. One 150W HPS puts out about 15000 lumens. Six 42W CFLs (252W) put out 15000-16200 lumens.

Check out the $20 HPS (in the section labeed "Vapor Tight):

http://www.e-conolight.com/Product/EFamily.asp

ston3pony

09-19-2008, 10:49 PM

Question... If you are only growing a single plant (in a small space). Is it not practical to use a few CFL's? I'm a newb, but it seems to me like you have somewhat of an advantage being able to lower the lights independently to surround the plant? Since they don't put off a lot of heat you can keep them in close?

And, what about CFL's for starting a tray of clones?

The Hemp Goddess

09-19-2008, 11:47 PM

Question... If you are only growing a single plant (in a small space). Is it not practical to use a few CFL's? I'm a newb, but it seems to me like you have somewhat of an advantage being able to lower the lights independently to surround the plant? Since they don't put off a lot of heat you can keep them in close?

And, what about CFL's for starting a tray of clones?

IMO, no. You get a better yield with less electricity cost running a 150W HPS rather than multiple (4) CFLs. I can keep my air cooled 1000W HPS as close as 6" from the top of my plants.

4 42W CFLs=168W 10800 lumens
1 150W HPW=150W 15000 lumens

Clones? Yes, clones don't really require a lot of light.

HydroManiac

09-20-2008, 01:21 AM

point is you can get alot closer with cfls without using fans and what not only reason people use CFLs plus if you read up the plants not gonna use all the light a HPS uses i say do what you wanna i would love to use a 200 watt CFL for growing theres also a 315 watt CFL thats suppose to compete with 400watt HPS systems

KaliKitsune

09-20-2008, 02:24 AM

I personally say don't go with CFL at all and use T5 fluros.

The Hemp Goddess

09-20-2008, 02:34 AM

point is you can get alot closer with cfls without using fans and what not only reason people use CFLs plus if you read up the plants not gonna use all the light a HPS uses i say do what you wanna i would love to use a 200 watt CFL for growing theres also a 315 watt CFL thats suppose to compete with 400watt HPS systems

Not necessarily and you need fans. You need to exchange the air in your room 2-3 times a minute. This has nothing to do with cooling (although it does help cool things down). You need to replace the CO2 that the plant has used. If you are bringing fresh air in, you have to be exhausting air out. I have 300W of HPS in a closet and I am using the same ventilation that I used for my T5. I have the plants about 4" from the lights (which are in a cooltube).

Companies make all kinds of claims. I don't care what the advertising (hype) says, no 315W CFL is going to outperform a 400W HPS. IMO, 150W of HPS will most likely outyield 200W of CFLs. But you can certainly believe what you want and you can do what you want, but there is really no debate on which provides the best yield (go back and reread POTUS's post) :). Experience tells us that HPS are superior to CFLs. With inexpensive HPSs, I cannot understand anyone not using a HPS to flower.